


Lovesick Fool

by silence_crouton



Category: Smosh
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, More tags in the future, Mutual Pining, One Shot, different stories each time, i have no idea what im doing, im dying on this hill, maybe more ships in the future, shartney, shourtney, smosh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:41:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27044449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silence_crouton/pseuds/silence_crouton
Summary: Just some oneshots and drabbles my brain comes up with at 3AM regarding one Courtney Miller and one Shayne Topp.This work does in NO way show the real status of Shayne and Courtney's relationship with each other. This is purely fictional that incorporates some aspects of real life.Hi, Hello and Welcome to my trainwreck. Enjoy your stay.
Relationships: Courtney Miller & Shayne Topp, Courtney Miller/Shayne Topp
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Sick

**Author's Note:**

> im not new to the smosh fandom nor to writing but i am new to writing smosh related fanfic and im so excited to have you all see the shit i come up with and this is basically just me joining the oneshots bandwagon but with my own flare to it but yeah!
> 
> i hope you guys are gonna enjoy what i put out and i'll try to keep consistent with one new part every 2 weeks (and some random outbursts of uploads during weeks off or somethin) and maybe one day im gonna flesh out into a fully fledged story one or a few of these oneshots! :3
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
> This was inspired by Smoshcast #47 where Courtney said Shayne brought her a care package with ginger ale.

Courtney drives through the bustling streets of Los Angeles to Burbank. She had been feeling sick the moment she had woken up from her slumber at 06:00 but decided to go to work anyway. She figured that whatever she was feeling would merely go away if she just surrounded herself with her best friends and distracted herself with work. After all, it was just a slight cough and the occasional sniffle.

Stopping at a red light, she sees the Mythical Entertainment building in the distance, smiling to herself as she reflects upon the year. It had started with Smosh being in a terrible spot and looking back, she was happy that whatever happened, happened.

This week was their last week for the year, and the last before going off on their Winter Breaks. Today was a filming day; meaning Courtney had to keep her coughing and sniffling under control while shooting scenes. By the end of tomorrow, the whole cast and crew were to have a Christmas Party as a wrap-up. 

It was the Smosh Family Tradition to spend the Christmas Party overnight at the office. Watching movies, dancing, talking, playing games, and anything they could put their mind to.

She had two days to go before that party and she was determined to not let whatever she had get in the way of her having some fun.

The red light turns green and the engine of Courtney's Fiat whirs as it moves through the avenues, getting her to her destination 10 minutes later. She parks the car and steps out of her vehicle, then giving a sneeze as her eyes start to water.

Wiping her nose with a tissue from the box inside her car and her eyes with her sweater sleeve, she walks into the office ready to start off the week with high spirits.

She walks into the Squad Room where she and the main cast/recurring cast would work, greeting her co-workers on the way there.

Entering the room, she finds Shayne and Damien already there on their laptops, reading their first script of the day.

The boys look up and they both furrow their brows, seeing past the "okay" facade Courtney had shown the rest of their staff.

"You okay, Court? You look like you haven't slept a night." Shayne says, worry etching his face.

"Yeah... just have a little headache and cough is all. I'll be fine." She says dismissing his worry, though she couldn't help but feel her chest flutter everytime he would show that he cared about her.

He hums but doesn't push it, keeping his eyes on her as she takes her seat across Damien, since he was seated at the head of the table.

Damien looks at Shayne and a knowing smile shows on his face, but doesn't say anything to him as he turns to Courtney, "You sure? You can always just take the day off you know... Ian will fully understand."

"Thanks guys, but really- I'm okay. I'm fine and ready for a heavy day of shooting." 

That seemed to have eased the boys a small bit as they left her to her devices, going back to their screens reading their lines. However, every once in a while, they'll hear a small cough or sneeze from Courtney; to which they would try to tell her to go to Ian and make her go home early for the day to rest up.

This would continue on for a few hours. They would read and rehearse lines, maybe try to act it out in their room, and they'd hear a cough or a sneeze and the ocassional sniffle.

When 10am came, Nancy comes into the room to inform them to proceed to set in 5 minutes. They were to shoot "Literally No One" and it was going to be their last video of the year. Both filming wise and literal year.

Courtney looks up from her laptop screen and eyes the boys who give her similar looks, standing up from their seats and heading into the break room where they were to film the sketch. When they get there, Ian was already sitting on the sofa on his phone. 

He looks up at them and raises his brow, "Are you okay Courtney?" He asks, putting his phone on the wooden coffee table.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ready to film?" She asks, taking the corner seat next to him.

Shayne sits next to Courtney and Damien sits next to Ian, they were going to do a quick dry run of the sketch before any actual filming.

They start going through some lines when Courtney starts to cough again, this time more intense than the ones in their office.

"So-* _cough*_ -ry" Courtney apologises followed by a few more coughs and a clearing of the throat.

"Court, you don't have to shoot if you're not feeling well." Shayne tries again, worried for her well-being and the fact that she was pushing her body when she wasn't supposed to. "We can always just have Kimmy or Olivia come in to fill in for you."

She raises her hand and waves it dismissing him, "You'll be the first to know if I can't do a thing." She smiles and drinks from her tumbler, placing it back on the coaster on the table.

She sits back down next to him and the cameras start rolling once more.

_The scene starts off with the four of them chilling on the couch, Courtney leaning on a pillow as she takes multiple photos of Ian._

_Shayne was on Twitter about to tweet a dead meme._

_"Okay, tell me if this tweet is funny." Shayne starts, grabbing the attention of his co-workers._

_"Nobody, Literally No One, My Dad: 'Who touched the thermostat?'"_

_The three respond by giving off small chuckles._

The rest of the day continues on with minimal hiccups, aside from the coughing and sneezing of Courtney.

It was nearing 17:00 and they were back in the Squad Room, Courtney's head in between her arms as she slumps onto the table.

Shayne sits next to her and puts his arm around her shoulders, "You okay?" He whispers next to her ear.

"Mhm, just a headache is all." She says through muffled voices.

"I can get you some Paracetamol if you'd like."

"Yeah, that'd be great." She says lifting her head up from her arms and looking at Shayne with a small smile.

Shayne stands up from his seat and goes out of the room, grabbing Courtney's empty tumbler on the way there; heading to the Kitchen to get the medicine and to refill the container.

Ian was there drinking some coffee and sees Shayne as he was opening the medicine cabinet.

"How's Courtney?" He asks, taking a sip.

"She's close to falling asleep on the table. Said her head hurts."

"She should really head home... She needs to rest up." Ian says placing the now empty cup of coffee in the dishwasher.

"I've been trying to tell her that all day. But she keeps insisting that she's fine." Shayne says grabbing the medicine and placing the tumbler under the refrigerator water dispener.

As he waits for it to fill up, Ian examines Shayne.

"You know... you never act this caring or concerned when it's anyone else that's sick."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shayne says trying not to look obvious that he felt like a deer in headlights.

"Oh come on Shayne, it's obvious. I just don't get why you won't shoot your shot."

"Ian, we're co-workers and friends. Nothing more, nothing less." It was obvious Shayne was saying that for himself, trying to convince himself that there really _is_ nothing more to it than that.

"You always have sucked at lying." Ian smiles coyly and walks away as Shayne removes the tumbler from the fridge refiller.

Shayne watches Ian leave the kitchen and looks down at the medicine and the tumbler in his hands, shaking his head after a moment and heads back to the squad room.

He sees Courtney's figure still slumped over the table through the glass and feels his chest tighten.

He opens the door and sits down next to her, nudging her softly.

"Hey," he whispers close to her ear.

She makes a small noise and looks up, she had clearly woken up by the looks of it.

"Sorry it took me a bit, Ian distracted me. Anyways, here you go." He gives her the medicine and her tumbler and she gratefully takes it.

"Thanks, Shayne." She says softly, leaning into his shoulder and giving off a soft sigh.

No matter how often Courtney leans on him, it never ceases to make Shayne's chest flutter with joy. Then comes the moment of sadness where he realises there can never be anything more between them.

Rather too quickly, he hears small snores from the weight beside him.

He turns his head as carefully as he could and smiles seeing Courtney fast asleep on his shoulder.

Damien enters the room and sees them, smirking slightly at Shayne.

"Am I interrupting something?" He mouths at him, feeling that the way she was leaning on him was different than normal.

"No." Shayne mouths back, dismissing any thoughts his best friend would have about the situation.

Damien just sits across from them and pulls out his laptop, checking his Discord Community seeing that they were done with filming for the day and were just waiting for 18:00 to come around so they could go home.

18:00 rolls around faster than Shayne would've liked but he carefully nudges Courtney awake.

When he touches, her forehead, he gets goosebumps by how hot it was.

"Hey Court." He starts off slowly. "You're burning up. Want me to drive you back to your place? It is home time after all."

Courtney whimpers and closes her eyes tighter, not wanting to move from her spot.

"I'm taking that as a yes. I'm driving you back to your place." 

He then carefully moves her, moving her head to his chest and putting his right arm under her legs, picking her up slowly.

"Hey Damien, could you grab Courtney's bag and put it around my head?"

Damien stands from his seat and does as requested, slinging one of the straps of the bag around Shayne's neck.

"Thanks, man. See you tomorrow." He smiles and leaves the room, Courtney in his arms.

He opens Courtney's car with moderate struggle and places her in the passenger seat; buckling her in.

"Comfortable?" He asks softly, placing her bag in the backseat.

She nods slowly and she shivers, grabbing the edges of her denim jacket and pulling them closer to her.

"Here, use this." Shayne takes off his jacket and puts it on Courtney.

She takes it and smiles at him, watching him as he closes her door and going over to the driver's seat.

He buckles himself in and starts to drive to Courtney's apartment, glancing back at her eveyr once in a while to check how she is.

At a red light he touches her forehead again, just to check if she was doing any better.

"You've gotten warmer." He says sounding worried.

She just gives a small noise of acknowledgement.

They get to her apartment complex and Shayne parks her car and carries her again, taking her to her apartment.

He opens the door and takes her to her bed, tucking her in.

"Sh-Shayne?" She says, opening her eyes a small bit.

"Yeah? I'm right here." He says sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Thanks for doing all of this. But how're you gonna get back home?"

"I'll take an Uber back to my place. Then take an Uber to the office tomorrow." 

"Sorry you had to do this." She says sitting up slowly.

"No, no. Lay back down. You need to rest. And besides, you would've done the same for me." 

Courtney would be lying if she said she wouldn't do the same for her favourite boy.

Her chest tightens as she blushes a small bit. No matter how she was feeling, Shayne always knew exactly how to cheer her up.

"Anyway, I should be getting home. Don't come in to work tomorrow if you feel like you can't, okay? I need you to get better."

She just smiles at him as he leaves.

The next day, Shayne comes in to work and is shocked when he sees Courtney passed out on the couch, her right arm and right leg grazing the artificial grass carpet.

He checks his watch again just in case he was dreaming and sees that it was 07:24, unusual since Courtney would come in at around 08:00.

He approaches her unconscious body and tries to find any sign of her still being sick or not.

Ian comes in with his cup of coffee as usual and turns to Shayne, "She's been here since 30 minutes ago. Came in, crashed on the couch. Hasn't moved since." He says taking a sip.

"I told her not to come to work today..." Shayne says sounding slightly disappointed.

"You know how Courtney can get. She's not gonna skip a day no matter how shitty she feels."

"I know... she can just be so stubborn at times." Shayne says dropping to his knees and approaching the sleeping beauty.

"Court, wake up." He says softly, pushing away stray red hairs from her face.

"M'fine, Shayne." She mumbles, voice hoarse.

"Doesn't sound like it. Thought I told you to stay at home yesterday?"

"I didn't wanna stay at home." She says followed by a fit of coughing.

He grabs some tissues from one of the nearby office desks and gives it to her.

"I can still _*cough*_ work. Just give me five... minutes..." And with that, she had passed out again.

Shayne turns to Ian with an 'I don't know what to do' expression.

"Let her rest for now. Filming starts at 11:00 anyway." Ian says proceeding to his office.

Shayne sighs softly and stares at Courtney's hand that was now touching the artificial grass.

He takes her hand in his and caresses the back of her palm with his thumb.

"I just want you to be okay." He whispers and places her hand back on the couch, then covering her with a blanket from the drawer beside the couch since it was a popular nap spot.

Shayne decides to sit in one of the couch chairs adjacent of the couch instead of going to the squad room. Wanting to keep an eye on Courtney.

He puts his backpack on the carpet and pulls out his laptop to write some ideas for next year's videos. He would read the script for the video they were to shoot later.

Damien comes in 20 minutes later and stops in his tracks when he sees Shayne and Courtney not in their room.

"I just wanna make sure she's okay." Shayne says softly, looking at Damien then at the sleeping Courtney.

Damien nods and decides to do the same thing, taking the other couch chair across Shayne and pulling out his laptop.

2 hours pass by and they hear a cough.

Shayne's eyes dart to Courtney and he sees that she was still passed out.

He turns to Damien who was wearing the same curious and concerned expression.

That's when Monica comes in with another cough, wiping her nose with a hankerchief from her pocket.

"Oh no." Sarah says in passing.

Shayne's eyes widen, knowing that within the next few hours the whole office may very well be sick with the illness only Courtney had a day prior.

10:00 comes by and Shayne sees Olivia and Keith enter the building.

His eyes brighten when he sees them, watching them come over to him and Damien.

"What're you guys all doing out here?" Olivia asks, "and is Courtney okay?"

"She's been sick since yesterday and I told her not to come into work today but she still did. Ian said she passed out the moment she arrived at the office so Damien and I decided to stay out here and make sure she's okay and won't fall off the couch." Shayne explains to them both.

"Well, count us in." Keith shows a bright smile as he sits on the carpet with Olivia.

"What're we filming today? I haven't checked." Olivia asks.

"Eat it or Yeet It. But this time, Garret's taking my place." Shayne smirks.

"Is this like a revenge episode or something?" Keith laughs.

"Exactly." He grins proudly.

"So how is Courtney gonna be able to host it if she can't even stay awake?" Keith asks.

"We can only hope for the best."

An hour passes and Shayne slowly goes over to courtney to wake her up, it was time to shoot the final video for the year.

"Courtney, time to get up. Filming time." He says softly, tracing the back of her palm with his thumb.

She grumbles and slowly rises, rubbing her eyes.

"You feeling better?" He asks.

She shakes her head and leans forward onto his chest.

"You can sit this one out y'know."

She shakes her head again, "Last video. Gotta. Do It."

Shayne helps her up and guides her to the makeup department, slinging Courtney's arm over his shoulders and his arm under hers.

He gets her there and lets her sit down.

Their makeup department do their magic on her as Shayne watches as guard, hands in his pockets.

They get to set in 15 minutes, now just waiting for Garrett to arrive.

Shayne leaves Courtney's side and heads for the Garrett Cam, which was now named 'Shayne Cam' for this episode.

"And ACTION!" Their Director, Ryan Todd, calls out.

Courtney takes a deep breath in.

_"It's time to eat it or yeet,_

_It's time to eat it or yeet,_

_It can smell like food or taste like feet,_

_But it's time for eat it or yeet."_

_She sings with Keith acting as the drummer, Shayne dancing with a wide smile._

_"Wow, great. Great." He says with a slight chuckle._

_"Guys! It's time for another Eat it Or Yeet It. This is the Holiday Episode." Courtney says as everyone applauses and cheers._

Thankfully, everything goes off without a hitch. Except for the few times Courtney had to cough or sneeze. Their editors said they could handle masking the coughs and sneezes so it wasn't a total loss.

By the time the shoot was over, Courtney could have very well just fallen to the floor.

Had it not been for Shayne.

"I'm here. I got you." He says softly, placing her back on her feet.

"You did amazing today." He smiles at her as he helps her back to the couch.

Courtney smiles and leans into him, she could get used to this.

He gets her back on the couch and he sees Monica had taken one of the couch chairs, meaning he had to sit on the floor.

Courtney sits back down on the couch and pats the seat next to her for Shayne to take.

He smiles and sits next to her, "Now rest. We still have that party later."

She leans on his shoulder after a few coughs and sneezes and settles.

The party was to start at around 19:00. They could all go home at 15:00 to start prepping gifts, pyjamas, snacks, and anything else they would like to bring for the Overnight Christmas Party.

Shayne had somehow also fallen asleep on the couch, his arm around Courtney's shoulder and his head above of hers.

Olivia and Damien couldn't help but to take photos of their friends, snickering and cooing as they did so.

Shayne wakes up right as people were starting to pack up their things, making sure none of their belongings would be left during the Winter Break.

He looks down and notices that he had fallen asleep beside Courtney, a small smile forming in the corner of his mouth.

He slowly wakes her, "Can you stay awake long enough to drive yourself home?" He asks gently, resisting the urge to kiss her cheek.

"Mhm. Is it time to go?" she rasps, stretching and trying not to blush at how she had woken up.

"Yeah, people are grabbing their stuff now. Do you feel better?"

"No. But I can manage."

"If you're sure." He stands, offering his hand to her.

She takes it and smiles, legs wobbling.

Shayne steadies her, "Let's go get your stuff and I'll take you to your car."

She nods and lets him put his arm around her, feeling that familiar flutter in her chest again.

They get to the squad room and Courtney grabs her stuff from the drawers and table, making sure no corner is left unchecked.

"Is that everything?" Shayne holds her bag for her, his own already on his back.

She nods slowly as they make their way to the parking garage.

"Shayne?" She starts softly.

"Yeah, Court?"

"Thanks for _*sneeze*_ taking care of me."

"Don't mention it. I'm always here for you."

She smiles up at him, noticing that she was leaning in and he was too.

A string of coughs ruin their moment.

Shayne pats her back, rubbing circles to soothe her.

She regains her breathing and opens her car, "See you _*cough*_ later."

She drives off slowly, knowing at any moment she may pass out so she takes it slow.

Shayne watches the car drive off before getting into his own.

Ian parks his car in the parking of his home and wobbles to get his house keys, stumbling inside and plopping himself onto the couch. 

_"Just an hour nap."_ He tells himself.

He wakes up two hours later to sounds of texts from his phone, feeling sick and nauseous.

"Shit, I can't get up." He says out loud.

He grabs his phone from the coffee table and sees it was from Courtney.

She was texting about how awful she felt and how sorry she was for potentially being the one to start the Office Plague since she had heard from Shayne that Monica and a few other staff members were sick.

Ian chuckles and tells her it was okay, despite knowing he too, was now sick with whatever illness Courtney had.

_'I'm surprised you haven't infected Shayne yet.'_ He texts her.

_'Yeah... he hasn't left my side since yesterday.'_

_'Y'know, he cares a lot about you. More than he cares for anyone else.'_

_'Ian, we both know that's not true. We're just friends, co-workers. Nothing more and nothing less.'_

Ian rolls his eyes at how oblivious the two blondes were and breaks out a small smile.

_'Oh c'mon, Court. It's very obvious. You like him and he likes you. It's been like that for years. So why no first moves from either of you?'_

_'First and foremost, we have contracts Ian. And you're the President of Smosh. Your word is the law. No breaking that.'_

This causes an idea to spur in Ian's head.

_'So if I were to say that co-workers could date and change those terms in the contracts... what then?'_

He smirks, seeing that Courtney was taking longer than usual to reply.

On the other side of the screen, Courtney was very furiously blushing as she coughs profusely, not being able to think of an answer.

Too slow for Shayne's liking, it was now finally time to head back to the office.

Grabbing his backpack full of gifts and a change of clothes, he hops into his car. He figured he would dress up in his pyjamas once he was in the parking lot of the office.

He still had to get something for a specific person.

Taking a small detour, he grabs the care package from the store he planned on giving to Courtney.

Satisfied with the box in his arms, he carefully puts it in the front set and secures it, driving to the office with a giddy smile.

Courtney gets to the office in her pyjamas, thus making her just want to pass out more.

However, she was waiting for a specific blonde haired blue eyed boy.

Mari enters the office, Sarah behind her.

Olivia comes in with Keith and Noah, putting the presents they had in their arms under the beautifully decorated tree.

Ian comes in looking like death, with a box of tissues in one arm and three presents in the other arm.

More people start flowing in and more of them look sick.

This makes Courtney feel a little guilty for not following Shayne's request for her to stay home.

Speaking of Shayne, he just now comes in. A box in his hands and his backpack behind him.

He places the box on the table and empties out all the gifts in the backpack, putting them under the tree.

Courtney watches him with her chest tightening once more.

He turns to her and grabs the box, giving it to her.

"I know it isn't gift giving time yet, but I wanted to give you this as early as possible."

Courtney takes the box and opens it.

Inside was her favourite brand of ginger ale ranging from plastic bottles to cans to powder.

She looks up at him and places the box back on the table, attacking him with the tightest hug she was able to do. "Thank you," she whispers.

Shayne hugs her back tightly, inhaling her scent. "I'm glad you like it."

The party goes on with everyone laughing and smiling.

Though, Shayne notices that Courtney had disappeared from the crowds.

He begins his hunt searching for her. Starting from the squad room to any of the sets.

When he gets to the break room, he sighs in relief when he sees her draped over the sofa fast asleep.

He kneels down and touches her forehead, noticing her fever has gone down a slight bit.

He was about to stand up when he hears his name.

"Shayne?"

He turns and sees Courtney's half-open eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Can you sleep with me?" She asks, sounding like she was embarrassed.

Shayne would be lying if he said his heart didn't skip a beat.

"Okay." He says about to just lay down on the sofa, when Courtney sits up slowly.

He raises his brow, Courtney just letting him lay down on the sofa.

Once he was down, she cuddles up next to him, her head on his chest as he wraps his left arm around her.

"Shayne?"

"Hmm?"

_'Now or never, Court.'_

"I love you. In the not-just-friend way."

Shayne looks down at her with small tears in his eyes.

"I love you too. I always have." He whispers, truly a moment just between them.

He kisses her forehead and holds her closer to him, the feel of each other's beating chests enough to lull them both to sleep.

That was how the rest of the Smosh Family found them the next day.

Asleep on the sofa in the break room, cuddled under a blanket.

Sick days weren't uncommon in the Smosh Office, neither was being given small packages from friends when you aren't feeling your best.

But what Shayne and Courtney had was something more. 

And now, they finally _were_ something more.


	2. Uncover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place between 2017- September 2020
> 
> Almost each "scene" after the lyrics is a different time or moment in their relationship.

"I want to hide this. Us. Just for now." Courtney says taking Shayne's hands in hers and looking up at his bright blue eyes.

Shayne looks down at their hands and kisses the back of her palms, "Okay."

_Nobody sees, nobody knows  
_ _We are a secret can't be exposed_

They were out and about with Olivia, Keith, and Noah. They were to film a Disneyland Squad Vlog.

The three were ahead by a few steps, Noah trying to persuade Olivia and Keith to ride one of the rollercoasters with him, pointing the camera directly at their faces.

Courtney and Shayne stayed behind a bit, intertwining pinkies since it was the closest they could get to holding hands without being caught.

_That's how it is, that's how it goes,  
_ _Far from the others, close to each other_

They were in the office, Shayne was on his desk reading the script for a new sketch they were working on: The Most Annoying Kid In School.

Courtney notices they were alone and stands from her desk, turning the corner and leaning her head on Shayne's.

"You look focused." She smiles, twirling some of his hair with her index finger.

He looks up at her and chuckles, "Just lost in thought is all."

"Oh really now?"

"Yeah... just thinking about how I got so lucky with the most perfect girlfriend ever." He grins and stands from his seat, twirling her around slowly.

Her cheeks turn a dark shade of red as he kisses her, humming softly with approval.

_In the daylight, in the daylight,  
_ _When the sun is shining_

Shayne takes Courtney to his apartment, she wanted to have a little at-home movie date and Shayne was not one to deny the request of his girlfriend.

He brings out blankets and pillows from his bedroom and plop them all down on the couch, some on Courtney's head eliciting a laugh from her.

"Your laugh is music to my ears." He grins and kisses her softly, pulling away to hit her with a pillow initiating a pillow fight.

_On the late night, on the late night,  
_ _When the moon is blinding  
_ _In the plain sight, plain sight,  
_ _Like stars in hiding,  
_ _You and I burn on, on_

Today they had to film a blindfolded food challenge with Noah and Keith.

To say Courtney was nervous was an understatement. Her anxiety had been riling up since she came into the office and was told she was to be shooting that challenge.

Shayne sits by her side, making sure she doesn't have a full blown panic attack during it.

Courtney's left hand goes under the table and rests on Shayne's thigh, using it as some sort of stress ball.

The camera starts rolling.

"Welcome back to... we've run out of ideas." Shayne starts as the other three cheer him on.

"It's back-to-school time and you know what that means. We're gonna blindfold ourselves and try to see if school food tastes different than dog food." He then erupts in small giggles.

When Courtney first puts on her blindfold, she instantly reaches out for Shayne's hand. Trying to find some comfort as her chest pounds.

Shayne notices her body language and places his hand on top of hers, giving her a bit more 'I'm here' vibes.

Courtney looked tense as Shayne puts the fork against her mouth.

After spitting out the dog food she tasted from Noah's plate, she subconsciously reaches out for Shayne, leaning on him as if to say, 'Get me out of here.'

For the rest of the episode, Courtney just holds tightly onto Shayne's hand; fully trusting her boyfriend and giving her some comfort as she does the disgusting food challenge.

_Put two and to-gether, for-ever  
_ _Will never change  
_ _Two and to-gether  
_ _Will never change_

Shayne drives Courtney home that evening, still holding her hand as he drives through the light traffic of Los Angeles.

"You okay?" He asks softly, glancing at her for a brief moment.

"Thank You for holding my hand back there. I would've had a panic attack if you hadn't." She says quietly, squeezing his hand and letting them fall back in between them.

"I'll always look out for you. Why wouldn't I?" He smiles and stops at the red light.

She turns to him a bit more and leaves a soft kiss on his cheek.

"I love you, Shayne."

"I love you more, Courtney."

 _Nobody sees, nobody knows  
_ _We are a secret, can't be exposed  
_ _That's how it is, that's how it goes  
_ _Far from the others, close to each other_

They get to Courtney's apartment and Shayne all but smothers her in kisses and cuddles on her couch.

She lays her head on his chest, "Stay the night?" 

"Of Course. I have clothes in my car for situations like these anyway and you know that." He says kissing the top of her head with a smile.

"Thank you." She says softly, turning on the TV just to add some background noise.

_That's when we uncover, cover, cover  
_ _That's when we uncover, cover, cover_

"I love you so much, Court. Nothing will ever change that." Shayne says holding her hands as they had just got into a heated argument.

He was holding her hands tightly in his, keeping her eye contact and not moving a muscle despite internally shaking as tears were falling from his eyes.

Courtney just nods and shuts her eyes tightly, removing her hands from his own and instead wrapping them tight around his body, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone to the comments."

"Shh... shh... I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

_My asylum, my asylum is in your arms  
When the world gives heavy burdens  
I can bear a thousand times_

"Shayne... can you come over?" She says through shaky breaths and hesitation, she had just gotten home from the office with Monica with the latter having dropped her off at her place.

"Is everything alright? You sound tense." Shayne answers, fearing the worst as he puts on his shoes, grabs his keys, and heads out.

"Y-yeah..." She breathes in, "No... I'm scared... I'll tell you more once you get here. I love you." 

That last sentence eases Shayne's nerves, getting a clarification that she wasn't calling him to break up with him.

"I love you too." He says as he hangs up the call.

He drives there as fast as he possibly could without breaking any speeding laws and hastily knocks on the door.

Courtney opens the door. Cheeks puffy, eyes red, and wearing one of Shayne's hoodies.

He engulfs her in a tight hug and guides her to her couch, holding her hands tenderly.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"I- I have severe pre-cancer cells..." She breaks the news, then feels herself shake and cry even more.

Shayne's eyes widen with shock, concern, sadness, and a slight hint of anger at the world.

 _'Of all people, why Courtney?'_ was the only thought racing in his mind.

He quickly snaps out of it and squeezes her hands in his own.

"I'll be right by your side through it all. I'm not leaving; not now, not ever. We'll get through this together, Court. No matter how hard." 

She hides her face in his neck and just sobs, Shayne's left hand going up to her head to hold her close, his other hand on the small of her back.

"No matter what."

 _On your shoulder, on your shoulder  
_ _I can reach an endless sky  
Feels like paradise_

The next few months after that were a real challenge.

Courtney would have moments in the office where she would just zone out staring at a wall or her phone or her table and she would just start shaking and panicking.

By this point it was a silent agreed-upon rule that whenever Courtney would have these moments, Shayne can be pulled up from any scene or video he would be currently filming in and just _be there_ for Courtney.

Their co-workers thought nothing of it but just a friend comforting their troubled friend, plus the fact that only Shayne seemed to be able to fully calm her down whereas the others could only half-calm her.

Courtney's phobia of medical facilities and instruments was at an all time high.

No matter how hard she shook, she cried, and whimpered, Shayne never left her side.

_Put two and to-gether, for-ever  
Will never change  
Two and to-gether   
Will never change_

Doctor after Doctor, hospital after hospital. Therapy session after therapy session. If it wasn't Courtney's sister, Kari, with her it was Shayne.

Always Shayne.

Even during her surgery he was just out in the waiting room; he wouldn't leave the hospital, wouldn't pick up his phone, wouldn't stop pacing around until he was 100% sure that the girl she loved was okay and out of the woods.

_Nobody sees, nobody knows  
We are a secret, can't be exposed  
That's how it is, that's how it goes  
Far from the others, close to each other_

The doctor comes up to Shayne an hour later and tells him that the surgery was a complete success and they were to be taking her to her hospital room shortly to monitor her recovery and to let her rest.

Shayne listens attentively to the directions given by the doctor to locate the room, then proceeds to run the moment the doctor walks away.

He gets to Room 703 and enters, seeing it was still empty and they hadn't wheeled Courtney in yet.

He sits in one of the chairs by the window and stares out at the city, thoughts wandering to the past few months.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door opening and a hospital bed being wheeled in.

The sight of Courtney connected to an IV passed out on the bed nearly made him break down right then and there.

"You must be Shayne Topp, she was talking about you right before she went under." One of the nurses speak up.

He couldn't speak, so he just nods.

"She'll be awake soon. She'll pull through." 

Shayne watches the three nurses leave the room.

He walks over to the bed and takes her hand in his, placing it close to his chest.

He kisses her hand repeatedly and just stays there silent, watching her stomach rise and fall.

A text from Damien brings him out of his thoughts, figuring he might as well answer because he knows Courtney was just beside him no longer alone on an operating table.

'How is she?' he asks

'The surgery was a success, she's still unconscious but if you guys want to visit, it's Room 703. I'll meet you guys in the hallway.'

'We'll come by after work.'

After that conversation, he feels a weak hand squeeze from the hand he was holding tightly to his chest.

"Courtney?" He asks quietly, not wanting to startle her.

She opens her eyes a small bit and it takes her a few moments before actually seeing the dirty blonde man she knew was in the room holding her hand, then tears start falling from her eyes.

His eyes widen and he resists the urge to just hug her tightly, being extra careful when he kisses her forehead. 

He wipes her tears away and that's when a nurse walks in, "Oh good, you're awake."

Shayne reluctantly lets go of her hand but does so and just watches Courtney with full attention.

"Your surgery was a success but you'll have to return in a few months so we can check if you're completely out of the woods or not."

Courtney nods weakly and glances at Shayne.

The nurse gives him special instructions to help care for Courtney within the next following weeks.

_That's when we uncover, cover, cover  
_ _That's when we uncover, cover, cover_

"But somehow as of recently, I was able to go to the Doctor's and get told that I'm _good_." Courtney says during her episode of the Smoshcast with Shayne and Ian.

Shayne just stays silent and attentive, watching her every move and listening to her every word, reliving those trying moments in his head as if they were just yesterday.

Courtney was now crying and talking about how Smosh was her second family and Shayne so badly wanted to go to her and hold her, their private texts to each other often were about how lonely the other felt without the other by their side.

_We could build a universe right here,  
_ _All the world could disappear,  
_ _Wouldn't notice, wouldn't care_

The moment quarantine lifts, Shayne immediately texts Courtney that he was on his way to her place. They had been required by Mythical Entertainment that they needed to have regular COVID testing to make sure they were _really_ clean and fit to work in the office again.

Luckily for Shayne, his last test was last week and his results came back negative yesterday.

Courtney's came back negative three days ago.

Shayne hops into his car and drives to Courtney's apartment complex, intending to give her the love and attention they've both been needing and missing the past few months.

He knocks on her door and she jumps into his arms, holding him with her arms around his neck tightly, her head hidden in the crook of it.

He motions for her to jump up and she does so, wrapping her legs around his waist and just breathes him in. Taking in his scent, taking in his presence.

Him. Here. In her apartment. With her.

Was all she needed.

_We can build a universe right here  
The world could disappear,  
I just need you near_

"Court... Can I ask you something?" Shayne says after a few moments of silence of just holding each other.

"Hmm?" She lifts her head from his neck.

"Will you move in with me?" He gazes deep into her eyes, a small smile etched on his face.

She doesn't answer for a few moments, then kisses him deeply, then passionately.

He reciprocates and looks back at her when she pulls away.

"I'd love to."

 _Nobody sees, nobody knows,  
_ _We are a secret, can't be exposed  
_ _That's how it is, that's how it goes  
_ _Far from the others, close to each other_

September rolls around and by this point, Courtney had fully moved in with Shayne. They had gotten a 2 bedroom apartment together a few weeks after Shayne asked her to move in with him and just let their leases finish up before starting their new chapter in life.

Their crew and castmates have noticed they've been arriving at the office at the same time now, but in different cars. 

At first it didn't seem like much of a cause for intrigue; but as the month rolled by, they started to notice little things here and there too.

Like how they would find Shayne and Courtney in some isolated part of the office being way too close to each other than they were used to seeing the two blondes.

And how they would find them almost always sitting or standing next to each other whether on-camera or off-camera.

Ian decides to investigate and finds Damien following the two around but making sure they wouldn't see him.

"Damien? What're you doing?" Ian says in a hushed whisper.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I wanna get to the bottom of this."

"Funny... I was about to do the exact same thing."

Unbeknownst to them, the secret lovebirds heard them and have now run away from the scene.

When Damien notices they were gone, he remembers the one place they go to - or rather, the place he often sees them hiding at from the rest of the world - the Mythical Building's patio.

_That's when we uncover, cover, cover  
_ _That's when we uncover, cover, cover_

"Do you think they're on to us?" Courtney asks, still gripping Shayne's hand.

"No, no, I don't think so. It's lucky we got away before they could see where we went." Shayne says, shaking his head.

He kisses Courtney's cheek to reassure her that everything was fine.

She looks down at the tiles on the patio floor and has a thought.

"Shayne?"

"Yeah?"

"What if... what if we tell them? I don't want to hide anymore." She looks up slowly, a proud smile on her face.

"Really? You think you're ready now? I'm here beside you with every decision."

She nods, smile widening and even showing some of her teeth.

"Yeah..." She laughs a small bit, "I don't want to hide from the world that I'm dating the best person I've ever met."

He lifts her up and spins her around, kissing her when he stops.

"I don't want to hide my amazing girlfriend from the world anymore either." His smile was wide across his face, beaming with glee.

The two were just staring at each other and slowly leaning in...

"Well, well, well." An all-too-familiar voice interrupts their happy moment, "Look what we have here." Ian slow claps as he walks further into the patio.

Shayne keeps his hand intertwined with Courtney's.

"We heard everything." Ian says in his boss-voice, pointing to himself and Damien who was behind him.

"I hope you both know that we still have that contract regarding inter-office relationships."

Courtney intakes a sharp breath as she nods.

"And I want both of you to know that..."

"Ian, wait. Before you fire either or both of us, you have to know that I love Courtney with all my heart. She's brought out the best in me and continues to do so on a daily basis. She's been my rock, my best friend, my soulmate, and I can't imagine my life without her. She's everything to me. So, if you're gonna fire us, fire me. This is her dream, working for Smosh has been her dream her whole life. Remove me. Not her." Shayne had cut Ian off, staring only at Courtney when he declares his love for her.

Courtney tears up a small bit but gathers herself when Ian finds his voice again.

"Wait, what? You thoght I was going to fire you? No, no, no. I was going to say 'as supreme leader of Smosh I'm going to abolish that rule because you both clearly love each other and have loved each other for a long time now.' I wasn't going to fire either or both of you. You're both staying."

The couple then take a huge sigh of relief and Courtney squeezes Shayne's hand, grinning widely.

Ian and Damien both walk closer to the two and give them a hug.

"For the record, we've been together for 2 years." Shayne mutters in the middle of the hug.

"And you didn't even tell me?!" Damien says in mock-offense.

"We... I mean, I... wanted to keep it a secret until I was ready to tell anyone else." Courtney says a bit guilty.

Ian hugs her tightly, "As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

"Papa Ian really coming in hot tonight huh." Damien laughs a small bit.

"Let's go tell the rest of the office, yeah?" Shayne looks over at Courtney, looking for her approval.

She nods and leans her head on his shoulder contentedly, his arm wrapped securely around her waist as they walk back from the patio into the office.

Happy they no longer had to hide.

_That's when we uncover_


	3. Let Me Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit short compared to the others, busy week with homework, a group research paper, a typhoon, and some college interviews here and there.

"Are you sure we can use the studio, Court? Your boss isn't going to get upset?"  
"You're fine. We can go there right before everyone leaves and lock up for the night. Besides, none of the people at DEFY care anyway who we bring into the studio." Courtney says with a bright smile and a reassuring expression. "Let's do it." TJ, her roommate, grins. They've been looking for a place to record their cover of 'Let Me Love You' for weeks now and this might actually be the one.

At 5 PM, when everyone was starting to head out for the night aside from some crew here and there in charge of writing sketches and such, Courtney calls her roommates and tells them to come over with the instruments, sounding excited to film this music cover. Shayne walks over to her, his brow raised when he notices she was in a phone call.

'Who you talkin' to?' He mouths to her.  
'My roommates,' She mouths back and returns to her conversation with them, a smile plastered on her face. He walks back to the Squad Room and instead of packing up his stuff like he intended, he instead waited around to see what Courtney was up to. That and the fact that he just wanted to spend more time with the blonde.

Courtney returns to the room a few minutes later and is shocked to find Shayne still there, considering it was already half past 5.  
"What're you still doing here? Don't you have some school stuff to do?" She asks taking the bean bag by the window and just plopping herself down.  
He chuckles at her, "I just wanted to see what you were up to; and by the looks of it, you're planning on bringing your roommates here. May I know why?"  
"Well if you must know, Mr. Shayne Topp-"  
"Oh, I do." He smirks at her, sitting on the floor right in front of her.  
"We've been planning on recording this one music cover for weeks now and have been looking for a studio to shoot it in. I figured why not here since Defy people don't seem to care who we bring here as long as we do our jobs."  
"A music cover?" Shayne's eyes light up. Hearing Courtney's singing voice was never new to him. However, he just couldn't get enough of her angelic tunes.  
"Yeah, wanna watch?" She flips her hair to the other side of her head.  
"I'd love to." He grins widely, "I'll stay quiet and make sure no noise from me is picked up so you all can have a clean shoot." She smiles at him as they fall into a comfortable silence.

Courtney's roommates arrive a few minutes later and she hops up from her seat to greet them down at the lobby. TJ, one of the two dudes that came, gives her a side-hug then notices Shayne just a few feet behind Courtney.  
"Hi, you must be Shayne. I'm TJ." He says shaking his hand.  
Shayne takes his hand, smiling back as he shakes it, "Nice to meet you."  
TJ nods back and turns to Courtney, "Lead the way."

She grins and takes them to the studio where they film Put It In My Mouth and Seriously Super Stupid Sleepover. Shayne sticks by her side, then proceeds to stand in the back wall as he watches her roommates set up their equipment and instruments for the shoot. She helps them set up, combing her hair with her hand away from her face as she fixes up the microphone stands and plopping in the actual mics. Her eyes meet Shayne’s for a brief moment and she resists the urge to just stare. Even after she manages to look away from him, she can still feel his eyes following her every movement.

Shayne keeps a close eye on her, his own thoughts wandering astray of what it could possibly be like if he would just… tell her everything he’s been holding in for the past 5 months. Or at least, that’s when he thinks his whole emotional crisis started.

He notices her staring back at him and he just wishes he could read her mind, wanting to know if there was even a sliver of a chance. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a tiny bit disappointed of her looking away from him; but he kept his eyes on her. It was like he was under a trance, unable to move from her spell that she didn’t even know she had cast on him.

The lights are then turned off once the ring light was set up, “For dramatic effect,” Courtney muses at his confused expression.

She proceeds to hide from the camera’s shot. Somewhere with easy access to the microphone on the very front for her part in the video. Shayne can’t help but to elicit a small chuckle when he sees her crouched down under the camera. She turns towards him with a grin and a roll of the eyes, then turns back to her roommates as Daniel, one of the three, presses record on the camera and starts to film them.

TJ plays a chord, echoing through the walls of the studio as his voice soon follows. Soon, drums from a drum pad are heard as Gabe strikes the stick to each corresponding pad. Shayne watches this all unfold and his mind begins to wander even more as he notices himself slowly moving from his standing up position to sitting on the floor and his eyes drifting from the singers to the blonde a mere few feet infront of him.

The camera zooms in at TJ and this is where Courtney comes in. By the time the camera pans out, she’s now there front and centre.

This seems to have brought Shayne out of his thoughts as the spot where Courtney was crouched was now just an empty space, looking up and seeing her holding the mic, the other hand combing her hair with her hand. He watches her, her beautiful voice filling his ears. No matter how many times he had heard her sing for the channels, it still never fails to make him shiver and grin widely.

He thinks about the first time he realized he thought of her as someone more than just a co-worker and a friend.

_It was during the second Summer Games when they were at the camping grounds. They had just gotten off the van from a long drive and people were grabbing their bags and taking them into the cabins. Shayne plops his bags down onto his chosen bed and lays down face first._

  
_He then sees Courtney enter the room, “Hey, Wanna explore the area?” She asks him, looking around at the room assigned to the boys._   
_He contemplates for a bit but ultimately says yes, hopping up from his laying down position to sit up and stand up._

  
_They get out of the room and start walking down to the camp to explore and get to know the place they’ll be staying at for 2 weeks._   
_They get settled into a casual conversation about how excited they are about the games, which team they think is going to win, how they wish and hope the games will now be a yearly thing and not just a two or three time thing._

_Eventually the conversation drifts into more personal territory with their own dating lives, families, and the like._

  
_Something about Courtney talking about her family and how she was the only one to have a passion for the arts while the rest of them were in the military field and she wanted to date someone with that same passion and drive struck a chord deep within him._

And from that day forward, he started to notice everything about Courtney.

At first, he was very much in denial. Wanting a way to get over her as soon as possible for the sake of remaining professional and strictly platonic.

  
However, he fully knows that if he tried to do anything that could tell he was trying to get away from someone, questions would immediately be asked and eyebrows would immediately be raised.

So, he had to remain normal and close to her as he dealt with each time he would be blushing because of her or thinking something he shouldn’t be thinking of surrounding her.

And now, he finds himself sitting on the floor watching her sing her heart out. Listening to every word, every harmony, every movement she made, and every split-second glance she would make at him.

Each second felt excruciating despite the fact that he asked for this.

He wanted this, wanted to put himself through this, decided to put himself through this. This is his punishment for being none the wiser with his own emotions for her.

He didn’t know she would have this effect on him but she did and he just wanted to tell her everything.

He wanted to tell her how cute she looked when she would put her hair up in a bun or how funny she is or how he thinks she has an amazing sense of fashion or how he just wants to wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her. He wanted so badly to call her his girlfriend and he would have vivid dreams at night of them holding hands. Sometimes those dreams would have shining bands on their fingers.

The only flaw is that he doesn’t know if she feels the same way for him. That’s one of the three reasons he won’t make a move.

‘What if she doesn’t see me that way?’ His internal voice was now starting to battle him, nothing new whenever he would think about asking Courtney out.

‘What if because of that, it makes things awkward for us on and off camera and people will pick up on it and start to ask?’

‘What if I get fired because of this and I lose contact with her forever?’

‘Oh, stop it Shayne. You’re fucking 25. Why are you acting like this is some high school crush?’

‘Shayne, you’ll never have a chance with her. She’s out of your league.’

‘Shayne, you’ll regret it if you don’t tell her.’

“Shayne?”

“Shayne?” Courtney snaps him out of his thoughts.  
“Huh, what?” He looks up at her with wide eyes, immediately feeling calmer once he stares into green eyes staring back at him.  
“Shoot’s over. They’re gonna go fix the audio back at our apartment and add some backing tracks and all that to make it perfect. Meaning we both can get out of the office now.”  
He nods and notices it was just the two of them in the room, lights now fully on. His inner voices were battling him once more. One telling him to tell her, and the other telling him of all the horrible things that could happen if he did.

Shayne shakes his head, “Sorry, I kinda got lost in your singing.” He rubs the back of his neck as Courtney grins, offering her hand for him to stand up. He takes it and is pulled up, thanking her and resisting the urge to just kiss her right then and there. He blinks rapidly, and smiles at her, “Let’s go, yeah?” To which she nods happily, turning off the lights as they both step out of the room.

‘Not today.’

‘Maybe someday. But not today.’


	4. Moving

Shayne combs his hair with his hand in frustration, annoyance as another ad for a house he has been looking at for the past 15 minutes doesn't meet all his personal requirements.

It was big, spacious, had 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a pool, and it was in a gated community. The only problem was that it was just a _bit_ too far from his desired location. 

He puts his phone down on his desk and stands up, a pair of eyes suddenly starts following him.

"Shayne, baby, are you okay?" Courtney asks, following the blonde as he walks from the main office to the parking lot, presumably to get some fresh air.

He doesn't answer her question until after they've reached the outside of the office. Shayne sitting down on the pavement and sighing.

"Another dead end." He huffs, throwing a pebble from beside him to wherever his throw leads it.

Courtney sits down beside him and takes his hand, drawing circles around the back of it with her thumb.

"I know it's been two whole months of you looking at different properties and they always weren't meeting your criteria. But I also know that you'll find exactly what you're searching for. Just have to wait and look a little longer." She leans into his side and exhales.

Out of instinct, he kisses the top of her head and leans on her a bit more, "Yeah... you're right. I just wanna be able to finally _move_ and I sound like a broken record at this point but-"

"You want a space to finally call your own. Yes, Shayne, I know." She finishes his sentence teasingly, grinning when she faces him.

He chuckles a small bit and pulls his hand away from hers, instead wrapping it around her waist and pulling her closer.

"Just a little more searching..." Shayne mutters as they both settle into comfortable silence, just holding each other sitting on the pavement.

A little while later, Damien comes out of the door of the building in search for them.

"There you two are. Twitch time, let's go." He says smiling at his two best friends.

Courtney turns to Shayne with a smile and stands up, offering a hand for Shayne to take.

He smiles and takes it, keeping their hands intertwined as they make their way through the office and into the Games Studio.

"Found them outside cuddling." Damien says when they enter the room.

Ian teases them a bit as Courtney takes the hot seat, Shayne sitting on the sofa with Damien.

The stream starts up and Courtney greets the viewers with a bright smile.

"Hey guys, what's up. It's ya' girl, Courtney." She says in an exaggerated tone with wild hand gestures, she can hear Shayne trying to suppress his laughter in the background which makes her burst into her own fit of laughs.

"Anyway, hi, it's me. Welcome back to another stream." She says in a slightly more serious tone.

"Today we're gonna be playing some video games, some Fall Guys, maybe some Board AF in the middle, who knows?" She says shrugging with a grin.

She takes a quick glance at Shayne and smiles cutely at him.

The game screen is pulled up and Courtney stands and walks over to the main stream lounge area where she takes the chair beside Shayne on the sofa.

The first game to be pulled up was a Jackbox Party game and Tommy won the first round.

A few more games later, they decide to take a break.

Shayne stands from the sofa and does some stretches, getting all the tiredness out.

Courtney smiles at him as she exits the room to take a pee break.

When she comes back, Shayne hands her her water bottle and kisses her temple, "Ian wants us to take the hot seat." He whispers in her ear.

She pulls away from him a small bit and grabs his hand, practically dragging him to the green screen.

They see the timer on the monitor which indicated they had a little over a minute to go and people were starting to come back into the room to continue the stream.

Shayne takes a seat and Courtney follows suit, grinning as the stream comes back on and they're greeted by fans screaming "Shourtney" in chat.

Courtney giggles a small bit as she leans into Shayne's side a bit more.

"Hey lovebirds, tell the chat what we're doing." Ian teases them from where he sat behind the sofa.

Courtney sends him a middle finger followed by a playful glare.

Shayne chuckles a bit at her antics, "Well, guys, we're going to be looking at your memes from the Discord. So if you want to send in your memes, you know where to go." He smiles as he pulls up the application on the monitor and goes to the meme submissions channel.

The first meme to be pulled up is a photo of Shayne holding what appears to be a photoshopped baby doll with the background saying "Cory in the Mouth."

It takes him a few seconds before he understands the joke whereas Courtney was laughing the moment it was pulled up.

They stay in the hotseat for another 10 minutes looking at memes and interacting with chat when Shayne sees an interesting question.

"Someone in chat asks, 'Hey Shayne, how's the house hunting doing?'" 

This elicits a small chuckle from him as he turns to the camera to address the question properly. 

"Well, it's alright but also not, y'know? I keep seeing a bunch of good places but they're either too far or above my budget a bit. But a little birdie told me that I'll find exactly what I'm searching for. Just have to wait and look a little longer." He grins taking a small glance at Courtney and kissing her cheek both to tease the audience, and to just thank her for the words he needed to hear.

She blushes when he pulls away from her and that's when they decide it's time to head back to the main area to play some games, leaving the chat both with some encouraging words of their own for Shayne and freaking out over the cute moment between the two.

Three hours pass and they were now saying their goodbyes to the audience.

The cameras cut and Shayne spins Courtney around just for the fun of it.

She giggles and when he stops, leans against him.

"That was great guys. Another great stream; and Courtney's right, Shayne. You'll find that new home soon." Ian smiles brightly at them.

"Thanks, Ian. Say, do you have any places in mind?" He asks trying more ways he could find his potential new home.

"Not really, but when I do I'll let you know."

Shayne gives him a nod as they all start walking out of the games room to head out for the night.

Courtney was packing up her stuff from her desk when Shayne hugs her from behind, giving her a small kiss on the shoulder, "I love you." He mumbles quietly, only for her ears.

She turns around and puts her arms around his neck, "What's with all the sudden affection?" She grins, "and I love you too."

He just shakes his head, "Can't a guy just love his amazing girlfriend whenever he wants to?" He says with a smug expression.

She blushes a bit at that and playfully punches him, effectively making her let go of her. She then intertwines their hands together and he kisses the back of her palm.

"You're lucky I love you or else I would've beaten your ass."

He laughs as she turns away from him finishing up the last of her desk for the night, their hands remaining intertwined.

Three weeks go by and as usual, Shayne lays in bed looking up at his ceiling.

He doesn't have to go to the gym for another hour but his mind kept wandering.

Out of all the questions and concerns in his mind about finding a new home, one question stands out among the rest.

"Will it be perfect for her too?"

Shayne had been fighting himself for the past nearly three months as to how he was going to ask Courtney to move in with him and if she'd even want to. That's why his criteria for real estate had been so specific and he wanted all of those to be met as much as possible.

'Stop it, Shayne. Of course she'd want to move in with you, what kinda question is that? And as longas you're together, any home will be perfect.'

He was having a full blown argument now, and it wasn't even 6 AM yet.

'But what if she changes her mind? What if she'd rather just be in a relationship with you but not be _with_ you in the same house?' 

'It'll be the perfect 2-year anniversary gift though. Blindfolding her and driving her out to the new place and watching her reaction when she sees the house. Then asking her to move in with me and live this new endeavour we have together.'

Shayne sighs when his alarm starts to ring again, signalling him to go to the gym.

"Some exercise would do me some good." He mutters to himself as he climbs out of bed and gets hanged into gym clothes.

Courtney, on the other hand, had just woken up from a beautiful dream of living under the same roof as Shayne.

As open as they are to conversations about what they are and what they're not comfortable with in their relationship, moving in together was something they ever rarely talked about.

It always boiled down to if both people were ready and if they had a home that could accommodate both their needs in the present and the future.

But to say Courtney didn't want to move in with Shayne was a lie.

When they initially started dating during the period of uncertanty between the Defy Shutdown and the Mythical Acquisition, they wanted to take it slow since it was all so new and uncharted territory to date your co-worker. 

Though, while this was within 'taking it slow,' it would be nice to wake up beside your partner and do all sorts of domestic things with them.

Courtney hops up out of bed and decides to do some morning yoga before taking a shower.

They both get to the office by 9 AM. Shayne taking her hand when he sees her step out of her car. "Good Morning, Angel." He grins kissing her forehead.

She smiles and lightly squeezes his hand, "Good Morning to you too, ready for a heavy shoot day?"

"With you by my side, I know I'm going to be."

She nudges his shoulder playfully, "You can be so cheesy sometimes, you know that right?"

He chuckles a small bit, "I know, but that's just the effect you have on me, babe."

When they get to their desks, they're immediately ushered into hair and makeup for the first shoot of the day, a Pit video wherein they have to act out their YouTube comments.

The moment the crew started to work on Shayne's hair and makeup, he pulls out his phone to look for more house listings, his left hand moving from where it was on his lap onto the empty space between his and Courtney's chair.

She sees this and takes his hand, lacing them together and sighing contentedly as they wait for the crew to finish.

By 09:45, they've been completely "beautified" for the camera, costumes now on their bodies as well.

By 10:00 they enter the Pit Room, Courtney taking a seat on the far side of the couch from the camera and Shayne taking the seat behind the couch closest to the camera. Usually they'd be inseparable but they also tend to give each other space during shoots so as not to distract each other, their fellow castmates, and crewmates.

After filming 5 videos for the day, to say that Courtney was tired was an understatement. She was downright exhausted.

Plopping down on the sofa in the break room, she lays there with her head in the pillows, willing herself not to fall asleep.

It wasn't until she heard two familiar voices from the hallway that she snapped awake, although not moving from her comfy position.

"Yeah, I won't be able to come in next week because I want to check out this listing I saw, if that's okay."

"That's perfectly fine, Shayne. Does Courtney know about this?"

"I'm planning on telling her later. I wanted to tell you first as an HR perspective since you're the boss and all that. But thanks, Ian."

Ian puts his hand on Shayne's shoulder and squeezes lightly, "I hope this one will be the one then."

Shayne smiles warmly at him, "I hope so too."

And with that, Courtney smiles to herself, happy for her boyfriend seeing that this was a step closer to him finally moving from his small apartment into a proper home.

It doesn't take much time before Shayne finds her in the break room, sitting on the carpeted floor directly infront of the sofa and moves some of her hair away from her eyes.

"Well hello there." He smiles, leaning in close.

"I heard your conversation with Ian." She says softly, pushing herself up to properly sit, patting the area next to her for Shayne to sit.

He lets out a chuckle as he sits, instinctively putting an arm around her as she leans on his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"I didn't mean to, I swear. I just heard it from the hallway and all I have to say is that I'm really hoping this is the one. You've been working so hard for this and you deserve this, Shayne."

He kisses her temple as he pulls her closer to him. "Thank you, Court. I love you and I wouldn't be here being patient if it weren't for your constant reminders."

She kisses his cheek as the just sit there relaxing and taking a break from their busy lives.

The day comes where Shayne wasn't going to be around. This was they day of filming episode 1 of the Smosh League, a miniaturised Smosh Summer/Winter Games.

Even though she was a bit lonely without the other blonde, she was still happy for him and couldn't wait to ask him all about it when he gets back the next day, or maybe even during FaceTime tonight before bed.

Her phone rings that night while she was on her TV watching Grease 2 again. Seeing Shayne's face lighting up the screen made her all giddy when she greets him a good evening.

"How was it?" She asks, putting her phone on her coffee table supported by a water bottle to keep it steady.

"It's going great. I just paid the downpayment and since it's a 'Ready for Occupancy' home, I can move in as early as next week. This is the one, Court. This is the one."

He sounded so happy and excited for this new chapter of his life, Courtney wondered if he would let her be a part of that in more than the way they are now.

"That's perfect timing with your lease for this month ending in eight days, baby. There's less trouble than there usually would be. I can't wait to see you tomorrow and tell you how proud and happy and amazed I am for you."

"Court, I'm so sorry but I won't be able to come into work tomorrow because I'm going to fill up some papers for it and insurance and whatnot. I already told Ian this. I promise to tell you more about this soon, I love you."

"I love you too." She lets her hand hover over the hang-up button and presses it after blowing a kiss to Shayne.

By this time the movie had ended and Courtney was now heading to her bed, immediately falling asleep when her head hits the pillow.

The week was slow for Courtney. Her routine consisted of waking up, doing yoga, having breakfast at the office, filming, going home, dinner, FaceTime with Shayne, and bed.

It was a routine that usually had her in a happy mood but to only see her boyfriend through a screen and not in real life was kind of sad.

Of course, she had to wear a smile for the camera and a smile for Shayne, but deep down she just really missed him.

Tuesday rolls around, their 2-year anniversary, and Shayne walks into the office greeted by familiar faces and a very giddy Courtney jumping into his arms.

"I'm guessing you missed me." He chuckles when Courtney pulls away from where she was hiding in his neck to kiss him halfway between a peck and a full blown makeout session.

"You have no idea." She gives him a mocking pout when they finally pull away.

He kisses the pout and puts her back down on her feet.

"I missed you too." His expression softens as he kisses her forehead and laces their fingers together.

"What about me?" Damien puts his arms out to the side like a toddler, a smile threatening to ruin this character he's made.

"If you're expecting me to kiss you too, that's not happening buddy." Shayne lets out a laugh as he pulls Courtney closer to him.

Damien pouts and instead just ruffles up the hair on Shayne's head, "Better head to hair and makeup. I heard we'd be filmming another episode of hacking off."

Shayne grins having pitched that idea of filming a Travel Hacks video to Sarah via an email one night during his move to the new house.

"Oh, I know." He says letting go of Courtney after giving her a kiss on the cheek and disappearing into hair and makeup.

Courtney decides to sit in the Pit Room and watch the boys and see what kind of crazy antics they had in mind for this video.

After a full work day with filming only three videos and sitting in writers' meetings and/or goofing off for the rest of the time, Shayne goes over to Courtney who was acking up her stuff and puts his lips right next to her ear.

"I wanna take you somewhere today." 

She turns around to face him, "So you're driving me to work tomorrow, I assume?" She grins knowing their system.

He nods, "Wouldn't have it any other way. Now let's go before it gets dark. I want you to see this in the daylight." 

She puts the rest of her stuff into her bag and squeezes Shayne's hand, signalling that she was ready to go.

They leave the office and Shayne opens the passenger seat for her, which causes her to giggle a small bit as she steps in, strappping in her seatbelt.

After about a 30 minute drive, they get to a quiet suburbian area just outside of The Valley where his old apartment used to be.

He stops right before they get to the house itself, pulling up a blindfold for Courtney to wear.

She takes it and puts it around her head and makes sure she couldn't see anything.

Shayne continues to drive straight ahead for another two minutes, then opening the gate of his new home and parking his car inside the garage.

He turns off the engine, steps out, and assists Courtney to the front of the house before taking off the blindfold.

When her eyes are finally free, it takes her a moment to adjust to the light. But when they finally adjust, she looks around and sees the very front of the house Shayne had now decided to call his.

He takes her hand and leads her inside, giving her a full blown house tour. He had bought a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom home with a spacious backyard, a pool, and a garage that was completely in his budget and in a location that was neither too far from the office nor too close. The distance had an impact on how expensive properties were in Los Angeles.

On top of all that, furniture both old and new were there. His old bed now became a bed for one of the other rooms and his couch becoming a seating area in the Master Bedroom, to name a few.

When the house tour was done, he takes her to the Living Area and sits her down, taking her hands in his.

She feels a cold thing in her hands and when Shayne lets go, she looks at what he had put there.

A key.

"Court, we've been together for two years now, and judging by that facial expression I'm guessing it totally slipped your mind but that's okay because I love you. I love you so much and I never thought I could love someone as much as I love you. And I know we agreed upon taking things slow but this- this is something I've wanted for the both of us for so long now. Just had to find the perfect place before I told you what it was."

He takes a deep breath.

"So, with this extra key, I ask you, will you move in with me and start a new page in our lives together?"

Courtney puts the key on the coffee table infront of them and kisses Shayne passionately, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"Of course, you idiot." She mumbles as she reconnects their lips again.

Shayne could barely hold in his smile as he wraps his arms around Courtney's waist and pulls her onto his lap, holding her with the biggest grin.

When they finally part for air, Courtney just stares into his eyes lovingly, "I guess this means I have to mave our third year anniversary REALLY special to top this." She lets out a small chuckle.

He kisses her forehead and shakes his head, "You here with me is the greatest gift I have."

She leans into his chest and just listens to his heartbeat, "I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
